Thousands still without power in South Florida

South Floridians are heading back to school and work, but thousands of them still have no power.

South Floridians are heading back to school and work, but thousands of them still have no power.

Aric Chokey

Thousands of South Floridians still are without power more than a week after Hurricane Irma hit.

As of 11:30 a.m. Monday, 50,930 homes and businesses in Miami-Dade County still did not have power. In Broward County, 12,650 were still without power.

Palm Beach County, which was supposed to fully restored by Sunday night, still had 2,150 customers without power.

It’s unclear if the company will hit its deadlines it set for other parts of South Florida. FPL now expects to have customers completely restored by Monday evening in Broward County and by Tuesday in Miami-Dade.

Power was originally scheduled to be fully restored in the three counties by 11:45 p.m. Sunday. The company changed its targets Saturday, saying it had encountered more damage to power lines and poles than originally estimated.

"The estimates that we give are just that, the estimates based on the best information we have at the time that we give it,” said FPL spokesman Bryan Garner.

By Monday morning, electricity had been restored to about 95 percent of the 4.4 million customers who lost power, according to FPL.

Statewide, 6.7 million Florida homes and businesses were left with no power. On Sunday, Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced about 6 million had been restored by 30,000 restoration workers throughout the state. Scott called the efforts “the largest power restoration undertaking in history for a single state.”

The restoration also came with some complications. Irma brought some Category 1 force winds to South Florida but knocked out power to millions. Customers looking for answers on when their power would be back on faced miscommunications and misinformation when they tried to contact FPL.

Eighty-three-year-old Connie Packman said FPL’s website showed the independent-living facility where she lives in Boca Raton had power, even though 40 apartments were out.

“It’s so frustrating,” Packman said from her 89-degree apartment that was still without electricity Sunday evening. “We feel like nobody is trying to fix it.”